BENGALURU: Karnataka government is mulling vaccinating all teachers and students on priority as the first step towards reopening colleges. Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, who received the interim report prepared by a 16-member high-level expert committee on the third wave of the COVID19 pandemic, said the committee's recommendations to open schools and colleges in a phased manner will be considered.
"The Committee has recommended that all schools and colleges be opened after vaccinated students above the age of 18 and teachers. We will make arrangements for vaccinations so all students and teachers can be inoculated before reopening colleges. No discussion has taken place on reopening of schools as of yet," BS Yediyurappa said.
In its 91-page report the committee, headed by renowned cardiologist Dr Devi Prasad Shetty, has put forth various suggestions from additional equipment, manpower enhancements at government hospitals, vaccination and medicine management, the opening of educational institutions apart from projections and estimated data for the number of infections in the State during the third wave of COVID19 in the State.
"It is recommended to open schools physically to optimize learning, physical health, mental health and Nutritional aspects of children. Any further delay in school reopening may push children into malnutrition, child labour, child marriage, child trafficking, begging etc., making their condition further worse. The possibility of schools being areas of large transmission has not been proved anywhere in the world. There is an urgent need to offer scientific and definitive guidance for school reopening as anymore delay in achieving near normalization of schooling will be more detrimental than the covid-19 itself," the report said in multiple paragraphs on reopening of schools. The expert team has also recommended district-level school safety review committee to be established.
Key recomendations of the committee